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CrimeFest 2014 was delighted to announce the winners of its three award categories at the convention’s annual gala dinner this evening. The winners were:

The Audible Sounds Of Crime Award

WINNER – Robert Galbraith, The Cuckoo’s Calling, read by Robert Glenister (Hachette Audio)

The eDunnit Award for best crime fiction ebook

WINNER – Derek B. Miller, Norwegian by Night (Faber and Faber)

TheGoldsboro Last Laugh Award for best humorous crime novel category

WINNER – Derek B. Miller, Norwegian by Night (Faber and Faber)

Both winners scoop the acclaimed prizes for their first crime novels, with Derek B. Miller winning two of the three awards for his genre-defying hit novel Norwegian by Night.

The ceremony took place at the Bristol Royal Marriott Hotel to mark the climax of a convention that saw nearly 500 crime fiction fans and authors come together to enjoy an extensive programme of panel discussions, signings and events. Highlights of this year’s convention included guest author appearances from Mark Billingham, Yrsa Sigurdardottir and Simon Brett as well as panels featuring the likes of Ben Aaronovitch, Jasper Fforde, Nicci French, Lars Kepler and Peter James.

CrimeFest co-director Myles Allfrey says of the winners: ‘For these authors to win the awards perfectly reflects the ethos of CrimeFest, the convention that celebrates both new and established talent and everything in between. We are thrilled to have them as winners and we look forward to welcoming them to a future CrimeFest.’

The Audible Sounds of Crime Award is for the best crime audiobook first published in the UK in 2013 in both printed and audio formats, and available for download from audible.co.uk, Britain’s largest provider of downloadable audiobooks. Courtesy of sponsor Audible UK, the winning author and audiobook reader share the £1,000 prize equally and each receives a Bristol Blue Glass commemorative award.

– Robert Galbraith for The Cuckoo’s Calling, read by Robert Glenister (Hachette Audio) WINNER

– Peter James for Dead Man’s Time, read by Daniel Weyman (Macmillan Audio)

– Peter May for The Chessmen, read by Peter Forbes (Quercus)

– James Oswald for Natural Causes, read by Ian Hanmore (Penguin)

Eligible titles were submitted by publishers for the longlist, and Audible UK listeners established the shortlist and the winning title.

eDunnit Award

The eDunnit Award is for the best crime fiction ebook first published in both hardcopy and in electronic format in the British Isles in 2013. The winning author receives £500 and a Bristol Blue Glass commemorative award.

Nominees:

– A.K. Benedict for The Beauty of Murder (Orion)

– Thomas H. Cook for Sandrine (Head of Zeus)

– Sara Gran for Claire DeWitt and the Bohemian Highway (Faber and Faber)

– Elizabeth Haynes for Under a Silent Moon (Sphere)

– Val McDermid for Cross and Burn (Sphere)

– Derek B. Miller for Norwegian by Night (Faber and Faber) WINNER

– Denise Mina for The Red Road (Orion)

– Thomas Mogford for Sign of the Cross (Bloomsbury)

– George Pelecanos for The Double (Orion)

– Anne Zouroudi for The Feast of Artemis (Bloomsbury)

Eligible titles were submitted by publishers for the longlist, and a team of British crime fiction reviewers voted to establish the shortlist and the winning title.

Goldsboro Last Laugh Award

The Goldsboro Last Laugh Award is for the best humorous crime novel first published in the British Isles in 2013. The £500 prize is sponsored by Goldsboro Books, the UK’s largest specialist in first edition, signed books. The winner also receives a Bristol Blue Glass commemorative award.

Nominees:

– Colin Bateman for Fire and Brimstone (Headline)

– Alan Bradley for Speaking from Amongthe Bones (Orion)

– Colin Cotterill for The Axe Factor (Quercus)

– Shamini Flint for A Calamitous Chinese Killing (Little, Brown)

– Carl Hiaasen for Bad Monkey (Little, Brown)

– Suzette A. Hill for A Little Murder (Allison & Busby)

– Derek B. Miller for Norwegian by Night (Faber and Faber) WINNER

– Teresa Solana for The Sound of One Hand Killing (Bitter Lemon Press)

Eligible titles were submitted by publishers for the longlist, and a team of British crime fiction reviewers voted to establish the shortlist and the winning title.

You may have already have seen this on Uncle Tom Cobley’s Crime Blog – let’s face it, you’re usually way ahead of me on these things – but CrimeFest has announced the shortlists for its 2014 CrimeFest Awards. They include a mix of established names in crime fiction as well as new talent.

Let the Control-C key weave its lazy magic:

John le Carré is up against Robert Galbraith and Peter James in the Audible Sounds of Crime Award for best crime audiobook , whilst Val McDermidis pitted against Denise Mina and Anne Zouroudi in the eDunnit Award for best crime fiction ebook. In the Goldsboro Last Laugh Award for best humorous crime novel category, authors such as Alan Bradley and Shamini Flint will battle for the funniest book crown. The winners will be announced at the CrimeFest Gala Awards Dinner on Saturday, 17 May. For full shortlist details, please see below.

CrimeFest co-director Adrian Muller says of the shortlist: ‘It is fantastic to see such a brilliant and diverse range of authors and publishers on this year’s shortlist. Amongst the names are past winners and nominees, but new novelists are also well represented. We are all very much looking forward to seeing who wins on 17th May.

CrimeFest is this year welcoming a host of well-known crime names to the three day convention in Bristol. Featured guest authors include Mark Billingham, Yrsa Sigurdardottir and Simon Brett, who will be joined by the likes of Ben Aaronovitch, Jasper Fforde, Nicci French, Lars Kepler and Peter James.

The CrimeFest programme includes a full schedule of panel events covering everything from Maureen Jennings and Thomas Craig discussing popular TV show The Murdoch Mysteries, to panels discussing topics such as ‘Things That Go Bump In The Night: Magic, Paranormal & All Things Supernatural’ and ‘Death in High Heels: Women As Victims’.

Aspiring novelists are also encouraged to attend the CrimeFest Crime Writing Day, which includes a workshop with M.R. Hall and William Ryan, and the annual Pitch-an-Agent event where aspiring authors can pitch their unpublished manuscript to a top line-up of literary agents.

The Audible Sounds of Crime Award is for the best crime audiobook first published in the UK in 2013 in both printed and audio formats, and available for download from audible.co.uk, Britain’s largest provider of downloadable audiobooks. Courtesy of sponsor Audible UK, the winning author and audiobook reader share the £1,000 prize equally and each receives a Bristol Blue Glass commemorative award

– Robert Galbraith for The Cuckoo’s Calling, read by Robert Glenister (Hachette Audio)

– Peter James for Dead Man’s Time, read by Daniel Weyman (Macmillan Audio)

– Peter May for The Chessmen, read by Peter Forbes (Quercus)

– James Oswald for Natural Causes, read by Ian Hanmore (Penguin)

Eligible titles were submitted by publishers for the longlist, and Audible UK listeners established the shortlist and the winning title.

eDunnit Award

The eDunnit Award is for the best crime fiction ebook first published in both hardcopy and in electronic format in the British Isles in 2013. The winning author receives £500 and a Bristol Blue Glass commemorative award.

Nominees:

– A.K. Benedict for The Beauty of Murder (Orion)

– Thomas H. Cook for Sandrine (Head of Zeus)

– Sara Gran for Claire DeWitt and the Bohemian Highway (Faber and Faber)

– Elizabeth Haynes for Under a Silent Moon (Sphere)

– Val McDermid for Cross and Burn (Sphere)

– Derek B. Miller for Norwegian by Night (Faber and Faber)

– Denise Mina for The Red Road (Orion)

– Thomas Mogford for Sign of the Cross (Bloomsbury)

– George Pelecanos for The Double (Orion)

– Anne Zouroudi for The Feast of Artemis (Bloomsbury)

Eligible titles were submitted by publishers for the longlist, and a team of British crime fiction reviewers voted to establish the shortlist and the winning title.

Goldsboro Last Laugh Award

The Goldsboro Last Laugh Award is for the best humorous crime novel first published in the British Isles in 2013. The £500 prize is sponsored by Goldsboro Books, the UK’s largest specialist in first edition, signed books. The winner also receives a Bristol Blue Glass commemorative award.

Nominees:

– Colin Bateman for Fire and Brimstone (Headline)

– Alan Bradley for Speaking from Amongthe Bones (Orion)

– Colin Cotterill for The Axe Factor (Quercus)

– Shamini Flint for A Calamitous Chinese Killing (Little, Brown)

– Carl Hiaasen for Bad Monkey (Little, Brown)

– Suzette A. Hill for A Little Murder (Allison & Busby)

– Derek B. Miller for Norwegian by Night (Faber and Faber)

– Teresa Solana for The Sound of One Hand Killing (Bitter Lemon Press)

Eligible titles were submitted by publishers for the longlist, and a team of British crime fiction reviewers voted to establish the shortlist and the winning title.

That Saharan sand is blowing across the country right now, making itself very unwelcome inside your lungs. One way to ensure you get some fresh air is to get yourself to the seaside.

It just so happens that the good people of Hove have started their own own book festival, which takes place this weekend. As part of the festival – which features talks on how to get published and write for TV, and all sorts – they’ve invited Elly Griffiths to discuss how to write bestselling crime series.

If you’re hanging around this blog, it sounds like something you’d possibly like to know. Elly is, of course, the creator of a series of bestelling books about crime-fighting archaeologist Ruth Galloway, so she knows what she’s talking about.

Photo: Jerry Bauer

The latest Ruth Galloway book, the sixth, is called The Outcast Dead. It’s about Ruth’s investigation of a Victorian murderer, and offers another piece in the jigsaw of the complex leading character. Elly’s Ruth Galloway series of book is currently in development with the BBC. And I do believe we’ll be reviewing The Outcast Dead here soon.

So, anyway, Elly will be discussing how she created the character of Ruth Galloway and subsequently developed the books — and about how you can do the same.

The How To Write A Bestselling Series With Elly Griffiths session starts at 1pm on Saturday at the Hove Centre. The £4 ticket sounds a right bargain.

And if, by any chance, you see that miserable wretch George Harvey Bone aimlessly wandering the landscape, do send him home. His cat is very lonely.

I understand that the overwhelming majority of you, living hither and thither, will possibly not be able to make that event on the south coast. Don’t beat yourself up about it. It just so happens that BBC Radio 4 is broadcasting a new series that afternoon that may be of some interest to you.

As a novelist, CS Forester is famous for the Horatio Hornblower series, his rumbustious novels of naval conflict. But early in his career, Cecil Scott wrote three psychological crime novels that were quietly ground-breaking.

We mentioned George Harvey Bone earlier. Forester’s crime novels, known as his London Noir trilogy, were similar to Patrick Hamilton’s work in that they focused on submerged suburban lives in which small, weak people commit desperate acts.

Now BBC Radio 4 is dramatising the three of them on subsequent Saturday afternoons. The first, Payment Deferred, is this week at 2.30pm on BBC Radio 4.

Originally published in 1926, it’s about a bank clerk living in south London with his wife and two children, who’s desperately worried about money and is in grave danger of losing his house and job. An unexpected visit by a young relative with an inheritance tempts him to commit a heinous crime.

Payment Deferred is followed by Plain Murder, written in 1930, and The Pursued. That last book was written in 1935, but then the manuscript was lost for over 70 years!

Don’t get me wrong, I love what you’ve done with the place. What colour do you call that — peach? But, you know, it’s good to get some fresh air, drink a bit of coffee, meet some people, learn some things.

Here’s a couple of events you may want to consider.

The annual Get Writing! Conference takes place next Saturday, March 29th, at the University of Hertfordshire.

You find all the usual stuff: pitching sessions, talks, panels, workshops, competitions. There’s a networking lunch and plenty of opportunities to mingle .

This year’s speakers include – if you’re at the crime-writing end of the spectrum – M.R. Hall, William Ryan, Max Kinnings and Emelyn Rees. The building will also be chock full of agents and editors and important publishing persons, so get your those business cards printed out.

For more information, please make your way in an orderly fashion to this website.

So there’s that.

But, wait, I’m not finished with you yet. Don’t go off to that other website before I get to tell you about the London Writers Fair, which takes place in Foyles in London’s glamorous West End on Friday, April 11th.

It’s all part of the London Book Fair, which takes place that week. The Writers Fair is a special one-day programme for new novelists — in partnership with Curtis Brown Creative — where a limited number of people get to do workshops and take part in panels.

Yes, there are agents and editors and writers. Tom Rob Smith is going to be there, he’s good, and Adele Parks. And, yes, there will be networking opportunities for all.

Numbers are strictly limited, but I think there are still places available. You can find out more about it at this website.

Here’s a heads-up to all you writery-types. Yes you, madam – and you, sir, in the fetching Tyrolean hat. You can’t just sit there 365 days writing, that’s preposterous. Sometimes you have to get out there and meet people. Yes, real people, not the ones in your head. However, there are a couple of events next weekend that may just tickle your artistic fancy.

The first ever London Author Fair takes place in London’s Covent Garden on Friday. It features seminars, workshops, one-on-one collaborator hubs – sorry, I’ve no idea what a collaborative hub is – a pitching event and networking opportunities galore.

It sounds a hugely useful event where authors can get up-to-date with all the goings on in the writing and publishing industries, discover new ways to get their work into the marketplace and, of course, get close to agents, bestselling authors and industry experts. There’s also a networking event, with wine and so forth, in the evening.

There are, apparently, a handful of tickets left. Go here to find out more.

The following day – Saturday – there’s the Getting Published Day, run by those nice people at the Writers’ Workshop. Again, it’s full of workshops and panels and agents and authors and publishers and networking opportunities and feedback on how to get published – all in the leafy heart of London’s Regent’s Park.

Getting Published Day is all about maximising your chances of success — hooking an agent, a publisher, find new ways to connect and climbing out of the dreaded slush pile.

Ask anyone to name a British horror production company and they’re going to say Hammer, right? But for nearly 20 years there was another company on the block, Amicus. Whereas Hammer excelled in its period horror, Amicus specialised in producing contemporary portmanteau movies, short scary stories bundled onto the same film reel, mainly because they were cheaper.

At 11.30am on BBC Radio 4 on Thursday – tomorrow – film historian Matthew Sweet presents one of his terrific screen documentaries, Houses of Horror, which looks at the creative rivalry between the two film companies during the Sixties and Seventies.

It’s curious how the blurb never appears in daylight:

It’s almost a given that the story of British horror movies belongs to Hammer films. The studio, with its lurid combination of sex and death, lashings of blood and gore, has given it a special stake in British hearts. It made over 200 films, such as Dracula and Curse Of Frankenstein with a recurring, legendary cast, including Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee, and its 2007 revival drew heavily on past mystique.

Hammer was the most successful British film company of all time but, throughout its heyday in the 60s and 70s, it did battle with a much smaller, poorer, creative, upstart rival – Amicus films. Amicus was a small British horror studio that pioneered the much loved ‘portmanteau’ picture, such as Tales Of The Crypt and Vault Of Horror – each movie a composite of four or five short stories, whose connection is revealed at the end.

Matthew explores the productive rivalry between the two contenders for the heart and soul of British horror, in a blood-curdling tale of low-budget, gore-spattered one-upmanship that’s full of chilling atmosphere and fun.

…

If you’re down London way on Thursday – yes, tomorrow – there’s a Polish Crime Night at Belgravia Books. Novelists William Brodrick, Mariusz Czubaj, Anya Lipska, and Joanna Jodełka will chat energetically about Polish crime fiction, which is becoming an increasingly popular territory for readers looking for the next big thing in the genre.

The session is chaired by journalist Rosie Goldsmith at Belgravia Books in Ebury Street, Victoria. The event at 7pm is free, but you have to rsvp, so remember to let them know you’re coming.

…

Some of you may not be able to attend that fine event because you’ll be busy making some last minute adjustments to your Debut Dagger entry. Every year the Crime Writers’ Association encourages unpublished authors with the award, the winner of which is announced at it annual awards dinner in the spring.

The deadline for this year’s competition is this Friday, the 31st. that’s one, no, two days away! Submissions must include the first 3,000 words – or fewer – of your novel, and a synopsis of the rest. The entry fee is £25. All the shortlisted authors will receive a professional assessment of their entries. You can get all the details right here. If your manuscript is sitting in front of you, waiting to transmit its awesomeness to the world, I bid you good luck.